Dr. Winawer talks about how to improve gut health

For you, did you know that trillions of bacteria living inside your gut Maybe influencing everything from your weight, your immune system, to your mood, your overall health. Well, it's called the gut microbiome. And scientists are discovering just how important it may be. So here to discuss the importance of all of this, gut health, is Emory Dr. Neal. Wouldn't wear a familiar face, but he brought a special guest today, Dr. Maria Krakowski. So good to see you. It always brings the smartest people. The smartest people. Good morning to you both. So tell me about. Tell me about how this partnership came about. Sure. Maria is a medical resident, so she's already a doctor. She did her four years of medical school, and now she's doing three years of internal medicine training. She's about halfway through. So I work with the learners, the students and the residents, and during orientation to get to know them, I said, tell me a little bit about yourself, where you went to school, where you grew up, and also a fun fact that people may not know. So when we got to Maria, she said, I absolutely love the gut. I have an Instagram handle that is so unique and she's so personable. So that passion and that personality, I'm like... You've got to come on and tell viewers about it. It translates. And we're so proud of you, too, because you're homegrown from the Alvareta area. Yeah, yeah. So this is, like, crazy to be here. Like, the local news, like, everyone in my neighborhood growing up, you know, watched. So I'm excited. I'm excited. So let's talk about the gut, okay? Yes, yes. What is a gut microbiome? Right. That's an important question. And I think gut health is so trendy. Everyone talks about it. There's products on the shelves, but what does it really mean? Sure. So I just want to break it down to the basics. The microbiome is a community of synergistic bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast that work with our body. These bacteria, et cetera, live in our gut in this intestinal region and have this bidirectional relationship with the body. I'm having a really good, healthy community of organisms help give us byproducts to help Help our overall health be better. Okay, so that's just basically the gut in a nutshell. So how do we make it healthy? Yeah, so a key thing with the gut microbiome is the diversity of species in it. And what I mean by that is there's so many organisms in the gut, like I mentioned, bacteria, but it's not just one neighbor, it's trillions. We actually have 38 trillion microbes in our intestines. And the thing is, they're all very unique. And the key is we want to have a higher proportion of beneficial bacteria in our gut than harmful bacteria. There's bad bacteria like C. diff, E. coli. Those are some bad bacteria, but we want it to be overpowered by the good. So if we have better organisms there and we nourish the good guys, they will win. And when we have more good guys in our gut, it will then produce more of these byproducts that contribute to your immune system, vitamin support, metabolism, weight management, lipids, glucose, everything. All the things. How do we get more of these good guys? Yeah, that's an excellent question. And a lot of it starts with your diet. The thing is, these are live microbes in your gut. They aren't just there. They need energy. Where's their energy? It's food. You are what you eat. So if you eat the right things, you're feeding the right microbes. So eating more junk food, that's not digested really good by anyone. But eating more like fibrous foods that have complex carbohydrates that are broken down by the gut, they're going to produce more good byproducts. So if you are able to eat more fiber, fiber, fiber, and you can eat more fiber, that is the fuel for the bacteria. And then it will have these health byproducts to then lead to downstream health. outcomes. And there are some easy affordable ways, right? To get more fiber in our diets. What are some of those ways? Yeah. I mean, I would argue it's the most affordable. Like some of the things like, you know, frozen vegetables are just as fine as fresh. They're, they're picked to the, um, like at peak freshness. So you can get frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, um, canned beans and lentils and rinse them out. Sure. Maybe they have a lot of salt, but you, I mean, a lot of the things that are good for our gut are things that come from the earth. I mean, even coffee's good for the gut. You don't want to add a whole lot of creamer necessarily. That's less good. But in general, things that come from the earth, plants, fiber, are going to nourish all the good bacteria that's going to support our gut health. And to kind of fill in the gaps, there are some probiotics, too, other supplements. Even I see them for my toddler. I'm like, whoa, whoa, gut health, five-year-olds? I mean, it's for all ages, right? Yeah. I'm really glad you brought this up because probiotics are all the rage because gut health is all the rage. But I'm going to be honest. Having a diverse diet is superior and more reliable than a probiotic. Because some of the things on the shelves, they may be dead bacteria that don't even make it to our gut. And these are live organisms, right? And even if they're alive on the shelf, what makes you think it's going to survive your stomach acid and populate, you know? So I'm not going to lie, it's tough. It's also like you can't take these probiotics for a few weeks and be like, I'm healed. You might have to commit your whole life to it. Because once you don't keep having this certain strain, it's going to die off eventually. So, honestly, having... pattern of healthy eating and just sticking to it however that is to you sure is the best solution and and help for your gut. I mean so you mentioned fiber what about like sauerkraut I always hear things like that any other like magical foods that help our gut? No that's a great question fermented foods are fantastic um miso um you mentioned sauerkraut all that stuff um kombucha all those are great because they're fermented and what fermented means are these um bacteria living in our gut they produce byproducts fermented byproducts that So, they're fantastic. They're great if you can be consistent with them. Because like I said, if you go through a sauerkraut phase, love it for you. But if you stop eating a sauerkraut. See, my problem is that I always need a hot dog with a sauerkraut. Yeah, there you go. That's what you need. I mean, I need that. Oh, you know what? All of this is about balance. And something I love to tell my patients is you don't have to strive for perfection. Honestly, start slow and then ramp up. Because also, if you're going to have a bunch of fiber to start, you're going to be gassy. Your body's not ready for it. Real talk. So, truly, I don't want you falling. You know, so I mean, you got to start slow and then ramp it up. And then eventually everyone's got it. I really believe in everyone here. So just final thoughts from both of you. I was really surprised to see how your gut is connected to your mood, right? Oh, yep. That's my favorite thing. Yep. Yep. Why? What gives about that? No, it's incredible. And I'm not going to talk super science about this, but I could all day. I really could. But so much of serotonin is an important neurotransmitter and health function. Um, but the precursor of serotonin is metabolized in your gut. So if you don't have good initial production of the precursor to serotonin, you won't necessarily have the serotonin that leads to good health. So you want to have a good, healthy microbiome to develop all these vitamins that are critical in a lot of cellular function, like neurotransmitter function, um, that lead to more. Mood stabilization. All right, where do we find you on Instagram, on social media so we can get more information? I wanted to make sure that people knew that because people might have questions for Maria and should be happy to... Okay, so what's that handle? Yes, so on Instagram, you can find me at loveyourgutgal. I love that handle. So fun. You have great energy. Dr. Winter, where, you know, the best people, I will not bring on just anybody. Right. Come on. Oh my gosh. Thank you both so much. It's such an important, it actually really surprising conversation about your gut. I know, I know. And I'm, I hope everyone can learn something from it. If you could take anything away, just eat more plants, eat more fiber. Awesome. All right, folks, it's a nine four.